The present invention pertains to a new and novel safety closure device for bottles containing champagne or other sparkling wine.
The present day cork closure for a bottle of champagne or other sparkling wine must engage the interior cylindrical neck of the bottle in a conformal compression fit in order to provide the requisite airtight and leakproof sealing of the contents of the bottle. The process of uncorking a properly closed bottle of sparkling wine is normally accompanied by the familiar popping sound. This aural pleasure is one of the many which is associated with the drinking of champagne and other sparkling wines. The uncorking of the closure member may also be accompanied by the explosive propulsion thereof from the neck of the bottle with the attendant possibility of emotional fright, risk of substantial personal injury and, lastly, the chance of damage to surrounding objects.
The use of an external device such as a cage, wire mesh, net, string, bag, or the like, to catch or impede the explosively expelled cork has various disadvantages. From the marketing viewpoint of maintaining an outer package having a traditional character, external devices may present an unsightly package that takes away from the traditional image of a champagne bottle and may make a consumer believe that the product has been altered or somehow modified. Additionally, the opening of a sparkling wine bottle is already difficult, requiring peeling off a heavy foil, untwisting and releasing of a wire cage and, finally, twisting a tightly held cork in order to release it from the bottle. Any additional external attachment will make cork removal even more difficult. Moreover, there is the cost of another separate part to be added to the package which consists of the part itself, the additional time and labor to install the part, and the capital expense of building and installing the packaging machinery. Presently, there are basically two materials which are used to seal sparkling wine or champagne within a bottle. Both materials have very low densities, and consequently, very low mass. These materials are cork and polyethylene.
Cork, a natural product from the bark of a species of oak tree, Quercus suber, is grown in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and to a limited extent in the United States. Cork, which has been used for hundreds of years, has all the attributes of a perfect closure for wine bottles and is used on all the premium and super premium brands of sparkling wine as well as the majority of all the less expensive sparkling wines produced in the world. Cork's major disadvantage is its diminishing supply and the accompanying high unit price. Consequently, a unique and clever procedure has been developed to produce champagne corks from granulated cork particles, which, when mixed with an inert binder, are extruded in continuous lengths. To satisfy the stringent specifications of the producers of premium champagne and sparkling wine, two or three natural cork discs, each about one-quarter inch thick, are glued to the particle cork on the end that comes into contact with the wine.
Polyethylene is an inert, tough, flexible plastic that can be easily formed by injection molding. Polyethylene is most often used for the low-priced sparkling wines because of its low material cost, ease and cheapness of production, ease of insertion and high speed bottling line production capability. Its major disadvantages are its inherent gas permeability, which limits its long-term sealing ability, and its public image as a non-premium closure.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a closure which provides a traditional appearance and the traditional popping sound associated with uncorking, while dissipating the closure propulsion force also associated with uncorking but which does not require the use of additional external attachments to the bottle.
The typical bottle for champagne or sparkling wine is provided with a neck having a substantially cylindrical portion which the closure is designed to seal. The body of the bottle is also cylindrical but has a much larger inner diameter than the inner diameter of the cylindrical portion of the neck and is attached to the neck by a tapered or conical portion.
The closure member of the present invention is designed for use with the typical type of bottle and takes advantage of the inherent structural design of the neck and tapered portions.